Trapped on Lore
by League91
Summary: Following the Fall of Beacon, Ruby alongside Nora, Jaune and Ren, followed by Qrow, took off towards Mistral. On their way, however, they were met with something they didn't understand, which left them trapped in a world, which they didn't understand.
1. Before the Hero

**Author's notes: This is my first time writing a FanFic, so any reviews would be greatly appreciated, as I'd like to improve my writing as much as possible.**

 **Disclaimer: DragonFable and RWBY are owned by Artix Entertainment and Rooster Teeth respectively. I do not own any of the characters/settings presented here.**

* * *

 **Before the Hero**

Falconreach. The town where Raven was raised. The town which all roads led to. The town which Raven was once again approaching. He was returning from Oaklore, where he was busy with a few errands. Once he reached the town centre Ash approached him.  
"Hi, Raven!" said Ash happily "Where have you been?"  
"I was helping Sir Vey and Sir Valence with a few things" answered Raven.  
"Oh, yeah! I almost forgot. I've got a message from Lady Celestia! She said she wants you to come to Sunbreeze Grove!" Hearing that Raven wondered why it is that Celestia would want him to meet up with her. He decided that it would be quicker to go to her rather than to stick around and think. He said his goodbye with Ash and promised to tell him about some of his recent adventures later.

* * *

Sunbreeze Grove. The place where Lady Celestia resides. Here's also where Draco usually sticks around, because Serenity won't allow the young dragonling anywhere near the Inn. To be fair she had a point since Draco had almost started a fire and it was totally not Ravens fault. He totally didn't neglect Draco for an entire week and totally didn't forget to feed him. Moving on.  
Other than Celestia's house and the portal to Falconreach there weren't any other man-made structures here. As Raven stepped out of the aforementioned portal he took in the usual surroundings he had come to know in Sunbreeze Grove; the lake and the surrounding forest. While making his way over to Celestia's house he noticed that she had set up a table and two chairs just outside. On the table was a teapot and two cups and next to it was Lady Celestia herself.  
"Good day, Raven" she greeted him.  
"Hello" he answered "Why did you call me here?"  
"I'd like to know if you'd care to join me for a cup of tea" she said, smiling.  
"Is that all?" he asked.  
"Yes" she answered, continuing "I suppose I'd also like to talk to you for a little while"  
"About what?" he asked while sitting down on one of the chairs.  
"About you" she answered as she was sitting down on the other chair "I'd like to hear about your past. More precisely about the reason you decided to become an adventurer"  
"Why?" he inquired.  
"I'm just curious" she replied.  
Hearing that he thought about it a little and then gave a nod. She quickly poured some tea in both cups as he began telling the story of his past.

* * *

 _Twenty-one years ago I was born in Falconreach. Naturally the sight of adventurers were commonplace in my life. As they say, "All roads lead to Falconreach". That also means that I grew up in a town, which gets assaulted on a nearly monthly basis, but that didn't stop me from having a normal childhood. I usually ran around the nearby forest with a stick in hand, pretending to be a hero. Another one of my pastimes was going to the inn and listening to the stories which were told by the many adventurers who were stopping by on a daily basis. Sadly, my childhood didn't end up as perfect as that. Around the time I was twelve Falconreach was attacked by a group of Necromancers. Their army of undead ravaged the town on a greater scale than any that I had ever experienced before. What's worse was the fact, that they had chosen to attack on a day on which there weren't as many adventurers around. There were only a handful to help the guardians and the knights from Oaklore couldn't come fast enough. The war had ended with the Necromancers' total defeat, but that victory didn't come without a price. My parents were among the victims. They had died protecting me._

* * *

Raven stopped for a few second while recalling his parents' death. Celestia was about to try to apologize for making him recall his parents' death, but he interrupted her.  
"Don't worry" he said, having noticed what she was about to say "I've had a lot of time to come to terms with it."  
Taking another sip of his tea he continued.

* * *

 _That event nine years ago had left me devastated. The shock was too much at the time. To my luck, Serenity's predecessor at the Inn had taken me in. She was a kind old lady who'd been enjoying my company whenever I came by. Half a year later I had finally recovered to some extent and thought, that I had no time to stand around doing nothing. I wanted to do my best to help people, so I decided to become an adventurer. At the time they were, in my eyes, the perfect image of what a hero should be. Strong, brave and ready to help anyone in need. That's why I decided to go to Oaklore to ask the Knights there to train me. To my dismay they had refused to do so, but I kept going there every day to convince them to train me. After about a week of me being a nuisance to them they told me that they'd train me, but I had to wait three years. I tried to argue with them, but they didn't step down. I had to wait three years before my training would start._

* * *

 _During my three year long wait I had decided that seeing the difference between a good weapon and a bad one would be vital, so I had convinced Yulgar to take me in as his apprentice. It took me a single year to start making decent weapons. Yulgar was impressed, saying that I had a knack for blacksmithing. After my second year it was quite an easy task to distinguish the various weapons and their quality and after the third one I was more-or-less on the level of a master blacksmith. Before leaving for my training Yulgar asked me if I'd rather stay as a blacksmith, but I refused by saying that I truly wanted to be an adventurer, who helps people in need._

* * *

 _I was fifteen years old when I had started training with the Knights of Oaklore. For the first two years I was mostly building up my strength and battle skills. My apprenticeship as a blacksmith had already made me stronger physically, so I didn't need to focus on that on too much so I was more concentrated on my fighting style on which I worked on mostly by sparring with the Knights-in-training. During the third year they were already sending me on various smaller quests with full-fledged Knights and throughout the following two years they gradually allowed me to take on harder missions alone. By the end of those five years I spent training I had gotten strong enough to finally survive on my own as an adventurer. On the day of my twenty-first birthday I went to the cliff near Oaklore to gaze upon the forest from above._

* * *

"That was also the day I met you and Twilly on that very cliff and all of this had started."  
With those final words Raven wrapped-up the story of his past.  
"I see" said Celestia "so the day we met was the day of your twenty-first birthday."  
Before she could say anything else, she was interrupted by a loud noise coming from the direction of the lake. Alerted by it, Raven and Celestia decided to check out what it was.

* * *

Meanwhile in Cysero's Superstore of Savings…  
"So… this goes here and that there and..." mumbled Cysero to himself as he was building his machine. After a while he was ready and decided to test it out. Cysero set it up and then pushed the button which resulted in a huge explosion, followed by a shock wave.  
"That happened" said Cysero to no-one in particular as he started cleaning up after his experiment, mulling over the fact that he didn't have his ham prepared for the explosion, as he didn't see that as a possible result.

* * *

 **Author's Notes: Thank you very much for reading this FanFic! I'll probably be dropping the next chapter somewhere around the end of this week.**


	2. Stranded

**A/N: So, this is coming out a little bit earlier than planned due to unforeseen free time on my side.**

 **Disclaimer: DragonFable and RWBY are owned by Artix Entertainment and Rooster Teeth respectively. I do not own any of the characters/settings presented here.**

* * *

 **Stranded**

"We're not lost; the next town is Shion!" proclaimed Jaune in order to refute Ruby's statement that they were lost. Team RNJR were on their way to Haven Academy following the somewhat recent events known as the Fall of Beacon. Jaune had just gotten his gear upgraded and the group's next stop was Shion village. As they were talking amongst each other, something appeared right in front of them. It's shape was that of a tear; the kind you'd see in certain types of clothing. Within said shape was a strange vortex. All four of them didn't understand what was in front of them. They could recognize the shape and appearance, but they couldn't understand it. They simply stared at it and felt as if they were being pulled in. By the time they realized it, it was too late. They were pulled in and didn't have the chance to do anything; more accurately they couldn't even if the chance presented itself, because they were too mesmerized by the strange tear. As they fell through it they had no idea what would be on the other side; or if there even WAS an other side.

* * *

 **Ruby**

Ruby woke up. The last thing she remembers is being pulled into a strange tear-shaped vortex.  
 _Where am I? S_ he thought. Quickly scanning her surroundings she noticed that she was in a forest at night with no one around. _Where are the others? Wasn't it noon? What happened?_ Those were all thoughts which were swirling around in her head. She truly had no idea what was going on and where her friends were. To top it off, she was even more conufused due to the moon not being shattered. Ruby thought that she'd best move and that's what she did. She took off in a random direction, hoping that she'd find her friend, or at least someone who'd be able to help her find them.

Taking another look around she noticed that the forest was much creepier than she originally thought. The trees were unlike anything she'd seen before; they felt almost alive. Even the moon in the sky felt really strange for some reason. She didn't, however, have the time to think about her surroundings as she saw two figures charging at her. At first they looked like humans, but to Ruby's dismay they turned out to be skeletons holding spears. She panicked for a few second at the enemy as that had also been something she'd never seen before. _Skeletons? There's no such thing on all of Remnant! Are they a new kind of Grimm? No way!_ As those thoughts kept popping in her head the skeletons were about a meter in front of her. Deciding that it'd be best to think about it later, she pulled out her Crescent Rose and assumed her battle stance. First, she dodged the skeletons' attacks, following that with a quick slash of her weapon. She was quite surprised at the fact that the skeletons broke down after the first attack. She immediately took off, hoping she'd get to some form of civilization as soon as possible. Unlike her somewhat calm walk earlier, she was now running as fast as she could.

* * *

 **Nora**

Nora was intrigued by the town she was in. It was covered in snow and ice and the people here wore coats. The houses were unusual and there wasn't a single car in sight, not that the roads were properly accommodated for such transportation. She was also worried about where her friend could be as they weren't around when she had woken up. As she was walking around town she came across a building with a sign above it's door. The sign had a mug on it. _This looks like it could be_ _a place where they serve food._ Wondering what the sign meant exactly, she opened the door. _Yes! I'm starving!_ She went inside and straight toward the counter.  
"Welcome! My name is Eydis and I'm this inn's Innkeeper!" said the woman, who was standing there. She was tall, wore a grey coat and a little bit of red hair was showing through her hood.  
The woman named Eydis continued: "Would you be interested in a room, or maybe you're here for the food."  
"Food" answered Nora "what kind of food do you sell here?"  
Eydis showed Nora the menu.  
"Gold? Isn't it supposed to say Lien?" asked Nora, stumped.  
"Lien? Are you, perhaps, from outside the kingdom? Is that the currency used where you're from?"  
Hearing that confused Nora. _Outside the kingdom?_ She thought as she asked: "What do yo you mean by that? Which kingdom is this supposed to be, then?"  
"You're currently within the Kingdom of Greenguard" she answered "to be more precise, this is Dragesvard, the last human settlement in the Northlands."  
Those words left Nora completely baffled. _Greenguard? Dragesvard? What is going on! Where are the others!_ After that last thought Nora remembered her original objective; finding the others.  
"Have you seen any other foreigners like me around here?" asked Nora so fast, her words were almost completely entangled with one another. Luckily, Eydis was able to hear the question properly and answered: "No, you're the only one."  
Hearing that, Nora slumped her shoulders and gave out a massive sigh.  
"But, there's someone who'd be able to help you" said Eydis. This time Nora, having found a glimmer of hope jumped back up and immediately asked: "Who is this person and where can I find them!"  
"His name is Galanoth and you can usually spot him..." before Eydis could continue, the door opened. "Oh," she exclaimed "he's right there; at the door."

* * *

 **Jaune**

Jaune was lying face first on the ground. His body was in pain and he had no idea what it was that had just happened. He tried getting up, but due to the pain he only managed to get into a sitting position. He then scanned his surroundings. Right next to him was a lake which was surrounded by a forest. On the opposite side was a small clearing where a single house stood. From that same direction there were two figures heading his way. One was that of a woman in a white blouse with a gold trim and a long dress which was also white. Her hair was silver coloured and really long. The other figure was that of a man in armour. His hair was jet-black and reached the man's shoulders. The two were swiftly heading in Jaune's direction. _Where am I, who are they and where are the others?_ Jaune wondered, before falling back on the ground due to the pain he was feeling.

* * *

 **Ren**

Ren was wandering within a bamboo forest. It hasn't been long since he had woken up. After calmly assessing the situation he'd decided that the best course of action would be to try to find the nearest village. Along the way he had been attacked by multiple monkeys which were dressed as pirates. Naturally, Ren found them strange, but there was something which he found even stranger. The short green men dressed as ninjas, which had also attacked him. He was completely perplexed by them. _What are those things? How is it even possible for them to even exist?_ Even Ren couldn't stay calm and collected after his first encounter.

After a while he had finally reached the end of the bamboo forest. In front of him was now a regular forest. Through the gaps in the trees Ren noticed that there was what looked like a village in said forest. Without wasting even a second he took off, hoping that there'd be someone who'd be able to help him.

As he was getting deeper into the forest he was attacked. Ren had grown used to it due to the fierce nature of the monkeys and little green men but this time was different. This time a knife was thrown at him from above. Most likely the trees. While wondering where it came from, another one was thrown. Ren noticed it and barely dodged on time.  
"You're not welcome here, young one!"

* * *

 **Qrow**

Qrow couldn't believe what he was seeing. In front of team RNJR was what looked like one of Raven's portals, but it was also different. It's shape was that of a tear and no-one was coming out of it. He had also noticed something else. Ruby, Nora, Jaune and Ren weren't moving at all. By the looks of it they were too mesmerized by the portal. Qrow couldn't really blame them for dropping their guards like that. They hadn't seen anything like that ever before. At the same time it felt wrong. Their attention was too focused on it. It was as if they couldn't take their eyes off of it. What followed shocked even Qrow. All members of team RNJR were physically drawn into the portal without them moving at all. They weren't pushed in either. Seeing that Qrow went after them immediately without thinking about it for a second. He jumped straight into the portal and as he did so, his consciousness faded immediately.

Qrow woke up. He wasn't sure where he was. The only thing he knew was that he was falling and that Ruby, Nora, Jaune and Ren were a little but further below him. _This must be inside the portal. I see that they're still unconscious._ As he was falling, he heard a voice.  
"Who dare intrude my realm!" rang out the voice. Qrow couldn't tell it's direction, but it was obvious that it's owner was angry.  
"I know that you're here for my book and you're not getting it!" This time the voice was fiercer and louder. Following that, a gust of wind separated everyone as they were falling out through the portal's other side. _Isn't that lucky…_ thought Qrow as he fell out of the portal himself.

Qrow looked around. The portal had lead him to a place he hadn't been to before. It was a mountainous region with a forest nearby. On his right side was a path, which lead further into the mountains. It was also covered in various weird symbols. To his left was a volcano. Qrow decided that it's probably best if he doesn't go near it. Directly behind him was a mountain and in front of him was a dirt path, which lead into a forest. He decided to take that one. _Now, where might they be?_ That's what he thought about as he walked on the path. Further down the path he found himself in an open area. There he saw a red tent with various golden ornaments on it's top. Next to the tent was a strange red flag with a shape resembling a glyph. There was also a smaller tent, which adorned the same red colour as the bigger one. As Qrow stood there in front of the bigger tent, someone came out of it. At that moment there was only one thought inside of Qrow's mind.  
 _So, are you an enemy or an ally?_

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you for reading the second chapter of "Trapped on Lore"! The next one should be dropping in in about one to two weeks.**


	3. Lore

**A/N: Fun fact: this chapter was originally supposed to be longer, but I decided to move the last part to the next chapter in order for this one not to be too long. I feel like a length of 1400~2000 words is the best.**

 **Disclaimer: DragonFable and RWBY are owned by Artix Entertainment and Rooster Teeth respectively. I do not own any of the characters/settings presented here.**

* * *

 **Lore**

Raven and Celestia were sitting at a table and drinking tea within Celestia's house. In the same room on the couch was the man, who had appeared next to the lake out of nowhere. After confirming that he was hurt the two had moved him inside and Celestia quickly healed him. It's been about fifteen minutes since. They were patiently waiting for the man to wake up. In the meantime Raven had analysed the sword and armour which were on the man's body at the time. He was quite fascinated by the workmanship. Celestia on the other hand was enjoying her cup of tea.

Another fifteen minutes had passed and the man had yet to wake up. Celestia, casually looking at the clock exclaimed.  
"I almost forgot!" she said. Raven gave her a puzzled look.  
"I called you out here for two reasons!" she proclaimed.  
"And those were..." questioned Raven.  
"The first reason was to ask about your past," she said, continuing "the other one is, that I need you to go somewhere."  
"Where?" inquired Raven.  
"To the Circle Kave." she answered.  
"Why?" inquired Raven further.  
"Just go to the Circle Kave and wait outside." answered Celestia.  
Knowing that it would be futile to inquire any further, Raven nodded and set off, leaving Celestia and the man alone.

* * *

Jaune woke up. He was staring at an unfamiliar ceiling in an unfamiliar room. On the other side of the room there was a table. On the chair next to it was sitting the woman in white from earlier.  
"I see that you've woken up." she said "are you feeling well?"  
"Yes." answered Jaune. With that he immediately noticed that the pain he was feeling earlier was gone and he didn't even strain in the slightest.  
"My name is Celestia," she said as Jaune was baffled as to how he was healed so fast "what about you?"  
"Oh, me? I'm Jaune Arc. You can just call me Jaune." he then continued "Where am I, how did I get here and for how long was I out?"  
"Earlier, a friend and I were enjoying some tea outside my house as we heard a loud noise come from the direction of the lake. When we went to check it out, we found you unconscious on the ground. Following that we carried you in here and I started treating you immediately. It's been about forty minutes since then."  
"Was there anyone else besides me there?" asked Jaune after hearing what Celestia had said.  
"No, it was just you." she answered. Jaune panicked after hearing that.  
"Are you sure? Are you really sure?" he asked but all he got was Celesta shaking her head. Jaune averted his eyes towards the ceiling and went deep in thought. _Where could they be? Are they back at the… thing that appeared back there? It couldn't be! I swear that I saw them fall into it! But then what happened and why are we all separated?_ Jaune's thoughts were interrupted by Celesta, who'd most likely noticed how worried Jaune was.  
"Could you tell me your last memories before getting here? There could be a clue as to how you got here." Her words pulled Jaune back from the well of thoughts in which he was drowning.  
"The last thing I remember is travelling with my friends." he said "As we were walking down the forest path something had suddenly appeared in front of us."  
"What was it?" she inquired.  
"I'm not sure if you'll believe me, but it was shaped like a tear and within it there was this dark vortex-like thing. I'm not sure what it was, but after pulling my friends and me in I found myself here. I don't really know what happened between entering that thing and waking up earlier." he responded. As soon as he'd finished he looked toward Celestia and noticed, that she had an expression as if she knew what it was. It didn't take her long to give him an answer.  
"Jaune, what is the world's name?" she asked him.  
"Remnant…?" answered Jaune, confused.  
"It's just as I thought," she said "you're no longer on Remnant. You're currently on Lore."  
"WHAT!? What do you mean by that?" he asked, even more confused than before.  
"The thing that appeared before your friends and you was most likely a tear in space of some kind. After pulling you in, it sent you here. I'm not too sure as to how all of you are separated considering the fact that there was only one rift and all of you entered it around the same time, but it's an indisputable fact that all of you ended up somewhere on Lore because of it." Those words shattered all that Jaune believed to be true completely. He didn't know what was real any more. His mind was swarmed with all kinds of thoughts. Somewhere along the way he had fainted again.

* * *

Jaune had once again fainted. Celestia noted that she might have been a little bit too direct in telling him about him not being on Remnant any more. _I should've guessed that they don't have portals on Remnant since Jaune had apparently fainted when entering that tear._ About five minutes later she heard a loud "AAAAaaaaahhhhh!" coming from Jaune. _He woke up again! Was he having a nightmare based on what I told him?_ Jaune looked around the room and then towards Celestia. His face was kept getting filled with more and more dread as he kept on looking around the room.  
"Would you care for a cup of tea? It'll help clear your mind." she said, snapping Jaune out of his internal crisis. After a few seconds he nodded and got up.  
"You can go wait for it at the table outside. I'll be there in a second." she said. Jaune did as he was told, while she was preparing the tea. When she was done making it, she stepped outside, placed a cup in front of Jaune and poured the tea. She then poured some tea in her own cup.  
"So, I'm currently on this Lore?" he asked. Celestia nodded.  
"And the same can be said about my friends?" she nodded to that question as well.  
"But we've somehow been separated?" after hearing this question, she nodded for the third time.  
"Do you know of a way to find them easily?" this time around she shook her head.  
"I see," he said "then tell me about Lore; the more I know about it, the better chances I have of finding my friends quicker." After hearing that, Celestia started telling Jaune about Lore. She told him of the Kingdom of Greenguard and the Sandsea, of magic and dragons, of all the monsters which threatened Lore, of evil Necromancers and Mages, of the adventurers, the Knights, the Guardians and the Dragonlords. As he kept hearing more and more, his face kept changing. At first he was sceptical, then he looked at Celestia in disbelief, and lastly there was dread and worry. As she had finished telling Jaune about Lore, everything went silent. Jaune wasn't sure what to say and Celestia decided that it would be best to let him sort-out his thoughts alone. The only thing that could be heard was the occasional sip of tea from Celestia. At last after a while Jaune was finally able to speak up.  
"This is all unbelievable." he said "Dragons, magic, heroes, villains and monsters. It all sounds like the stuff from fairy tales. It's unbelievable, but I can't deny what I've already seen for myself; going through that rift, the healing magic you've used on me. I just… I'm worried about my friends too. What if they're in some kinda trouble with the monsters?" Jaune went silent again. Celestia, from all that she'd seen from him wasn't too surprised by Jaune's reaction. She did, however, note his surprise at the prospect of magic. _How is it, that he doesn't know of magic? I can sense that his_ _level of_ _magic is the same as that of an average mage. He should know standard spells and it seems like he has the potential to learn some of the more basic higher-level spells. Is it just that magic is not that common a practice on Remnant? Or maybe they have yet to discover it._ Jaune suddenly spoke up, interrupting Celestia's train of thought.  
"Thank you for telling me all of this." he said "I'm sorry for asking even more of you, but could you tell me where is the best place to start searching for my friends?"  
"It's no problem." she said "As far as a place to start, I'd say that it would be the town of Falconreach." Before Jaune had a chance to ask Celestia on how to get to Falconreach, someone appeared from within the forest. Jaune recognized him as the man wearing the armour. Celestia on the other hand knew that the man who appeared was Raven, the Hero of Falconreach.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you very much for reading! The next chapter'll probably take me at least about two weeks to finish. So it'll come out either the week before Christmas or sometime between Christmas and New Years.**


	4. Crows and Darkness

**A/N: Fun fact about chapter four: I spent half of the time wondering how to name it.**

 **Disclaimer: DragonFable and RWBY are owned by Artix Entertainment and Rooster Teeth respectively. I do not own any of the characters/settings presented here.**

* * *

 **Crows and Darkness**

A man wearing blue robes came out of the tent. His hair was long and white and his eyes were a lighter shade of purple. He was also wearing a few pieces of jewellery on his robe. Qrow felt an air of mystery coming from him.  
"Well met, traveller," he said "what brings you to my tent?"  
"I'm just lost," answered Qrow "you wouldn't mind telling me where I am, would you?"  
"That won't be a problem; you're currently in the Elemental Foothills, north of Lymcrest"  
Hearing that confused Qrow more than it answered his question. _Elemental Foothills? Lymcrest? I've never even heard of those places before in my life!_ That's when it hit him.  
"Where on Remnant are those places?" he asked.  
The answer didn't surprise Qrow in the slightest.  
"Remnant? Where on Lore is that?" the man answered.  
His realization was on point. Qrow was no longer in Anima. In fact, his best guess was that he's in a place which was yet to be properly explored by any of the four kingdoms. While he was unsure of how he got there, he understood that the locals have been, most-likely, living without any contact with the rest of the world and as a result their names of things like the planet itself would be different.

"Remnant is this planet's name" said Qrow. After hearing that, the man's face started showing signs of confusion.  
"The name of this world is Lore," he objected "there's no way that it would be called anything else, unless…."  
The man lost track of his words and furrowed his brows, seemingly in deep thought. He the uttered under his breath: "Impossible..."  
"I'd like you to stand still for a moment" he said after a few more moments of thought. Qrow became even more cautious and prepared for the possibility of battle. The man raised his hand towards Qrow and closed his eyes. A weird light started coming out of his hand. Qrow was confused. The man in front of him was doing something he'd never seen before. To top it off, the light felt warm, unlike anything Qrow had ever felt before. Before he knew it, the light had stopped and the man had started talking again.  
"First, I'd like to introduce myself," he said "my name is Warlic and you?"  
"Qrow" answered Qrow, unsure of what else to say.  
"Qrow," started Warlic "you're no longer on Remnant. You are currently on Lore. I'm unsure of how exactly you came here, but it was most-likely through a portal of sorts."  
"And I'm supposed to believe that?" objected Qrow. Warlic's words had shocked him thoroughly. _I've experienced Raven's portals first-hand! I know their capability so there's no way that there are portals which can take me as far as wherever this Lore supposedly is!_  
"Okay, what're you playing at? What's your goal in trying to confuse me by telling me that I'm on this supposed Lore?" interrogated Qrow.  
"I'm not trying to confuse you; I'm telling you the truth. You're currently on Lore. I learned that through scanning your body with my magic. There're sign of recent passage through some kind of a portal, but I'm not sure what kind."  
Qrow paused for a moment after hearing that. He focused on one specific word which Warlic had utilised. Magic. _He scanned me using magic!? I thought that there were only five people on all of Remnant who could use it! Was that light the magic he was speaking of?_ This time he was hit by a wave of realization and acceptance. He couldn't object to Warlic's words anymore. It was obvious that Warlic hadn't recognized Qrow which immediately convinced Qrow that Warlic wasn't Ozpin's latest incarnation. The fact that Warlic was a man also meant that he couldn't be one of the maidens. That meant that Warlic shouldn't be able to use magic at all. The only viable option left in Qrow's mind was that he wasn't on Remnant anymore. That he truly was on Lore.  
"I assume that you've come to terms with the truth?" asked Warlic, noticing Qrow's face, to which he nodded.  
"Then, would you tell me as many details as possible about how you came here? I might be able to help" asked Warlic. Qrow then recalled the moments before entering the portal, then the moments within the portal and ended with him waking up on Lore.  
"I see," Warlic said "there were others with you, but now you're unsure as to where to find them."  
"So," Qrow started asking "do you have any ideas?"  
"Sadly, I'm not sure how to take you back to your world as of now, but I do have a few ideas about where to start looking for the other ones who came in with you." answered Warlic.  
"Okay," said Qrow "where do I start?"  
"Before I tell you that, I'd like to ask for your help with something." stated Warlic.  
"And what would that be?" questioned Qrow. _Even if he's not Oz, I definitely feel like they're similar in a way. But they also feel very different. It's as if Warlic's story is on an even larger scale than Ozpin's._  
"Don't worry," said Warlic "I promise that it won't take too long. I just want you to investigate something for me. If you do, I'll help you any way I can."  
Qrow pulled out his flask from under his shirt and took a sip.  
"Alright, then. Where am I supposed to go?"

* * *

A forest of darkness. That's the only way Ruby would describe the forest through which she was running. She had no idea of the time that had passed or if she was getting any closer to escaping. On the rare occasion where she could take a breather, her mind would be beset by many thoughts. Thoughts like if she was actually somehow running in circles, thus being unable to ever escape. Thoughts like the amount of time that could have passed since her arrival. She would worry about how she has yet to see the sunrise, even though she feels like she's been here for at least a day. She was able to notice that much due to her having run out of supplies. No food, no water. At the very least it hasn't been too long since she ran out. She was sufficiently satiated for the moment. The worst part about all of this was when her thoughts turned grim. During those times she was at her most hopelessness. She thought that the thing into which she had fallen along with her friends was a kind of portal which lead her straight to hell. She thought she was stuck in a hell where the souls of those who she wasn't able to protect would torture her. She wasn't able to forgive herself for what had happened during the Fall of Beacon, so she thought that this was her punishment for it. But that was only the worst-case scenario she would imagine every time she lost her hope. On the other hand, whenever she was running it was the same never-ending nightmare. She kept being attacked by skeletons, slimes with bones within them, living trees and many more monsters. After managing to defeat so many of them, she was able to defeat them in a much easier fashion. She was able to figure out and focus on the enemies' weaknesses and preserve her energy better. That didn't mean that she didn't still feel the slightest bit less terrified of these creatures.

Even more time had passed. Due to her food and water having run out, she was now starving and extremely thirsty. She was unsure of the amount of time that had passed, but she knew that she had been reaching her limits. She was hoping that she'd find some place with food and water where she'd be able to rest sometime soon. She barely kept running. And more. And more. Until she finally reached an open area. This one was different from the others. There were three paths leading from it and around the side there was a sign. She walked up to it to read it.

N – Falconreach  
SW – Amityvale  
SE - ?

She looked in all three directions. Two of them were simply paths which could've lead to their respective locations after an unknown amount of time. Past the third path, the path to Amityvale, she could barely make out some light. Deciding that it must be the closest, she took off immediately. She was filled with hope that she'd finally found civilization. That she'd finally be able to rest. That this never-ending nightmare would finally end. She was too hopeful. As she kept going towards Amityvale, a group of skeletons emerged from the bushes and intercepted her. Seeing that, she immediately prepared for battle. She knew that she couldn't run away in her current state, so she decided to fight them but as soon as she took a few of them out she felt even worse than earlier. She was too exhausted, starving and thirsty to fight. She was struck by a great headache and she felt herself loosing consciousness. Everything around her slowly turned dark as she lost her footing.

* * *

It was yet another day in Doomwood. Artix was enjoying yet another day of his life. He was on his way back to Amityvale from his daily undead hunt. He was quite proud of the number of undead he had purified. It was shaping up to be yet another normal day in his life. That was until he saw someone collapsed on the road, surrounded by undead. It was a total of three Shake Spears and four Bone Fires. He knew he had to act immediately, so he sprung into action. First, he formed a spear of light in his hand and threw it toward the Bone Fires. Needless to say, they were engulfed by the light while their bones were shattered into many tiny pieces. The Shake Spears noticed that and focused their attention towards Artix. Before they had a chance to run due to them having noticed that the one charging at them WAS Artix, they were all sliced in two by Artix slashing at them with his Blinding Light of Destiny. Having defeated the undead, he turned his attention towards the person who had collapsed. He noticed immediately how injured she was and that his healing magic wouldn't be able to sustain her. He quickly picked her up and rushed towards Amityvale in order to get the healers there to heal her.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you very much for reading this! Btw, reviews are quite appreciated regardless of how positive or negative they are (at least as long as we're talking about constructive criticism). Chapter five'll be dropping sometime just before New Years as long as things go according to plan. Also, quick heads up: the next chapter will be extra special so it might come out a few day later than planned, but I'll try my best to get it out just before 2018 begins.**


	5. Shadows

**A/N: Chapter 5, here it is.**

 **Disclaimer: DragonFable and RWBY are owned by Artix Entertainment and Rooster Teeth respectively. I do not own any of the characters/settings presented here.**

* * *

 **Shadows**

Salem's castle. Salem and Cinder were within the conference room. Salem had just instructed Tyrian to track down and capture Ruby. As she was about to tell Cinder about what's next for her, someone appeared. The two of them barely sensed the newcomer's presence as they emerged from within the shadows. Their appearance and gender was impossible to pinpoint due to them wearing a dark cloak on them. In fact, nothing was visible underneath. It was as if the person was completely covered in shadows. Cinder had immediately prepared her battle stance while Salem called in a group of Seers to surround them.  
"Who are you and how did you find this place?" interrogated Salem.  
"I am no one important," they said with a distorted voice, filled with darkness "but if you insist on calling me something, then simply Mysterious Stranger will be fine."  
"And my other question..." said Salem, slightly annoyed.  
"You don't need to worry about that; darkness is all around us." they answered.  
Salem, obviously, wasn't satisfied with the Mysterious Stranger's answers, but she decided to let that line of questioning go in order to focus on the next important thing.  
"Then, tell me why you are here." stated Salem.  
"I'm glad you asked," answered the Mysterious Stranger "I was about to bring that up myself."  
"Go on..." she said.  
"I've come here because your actions within this world have recently come to my attention." they announced.  
"How did you learn that I was behind those 'actions' you mentioned?" she inquired.  
"As I said, darkness is all around us. There's almost nothing in this world that's out of my reach. I know about your goals and I've come here, today, because they align with my own." they asserted.  
"Then what is it, exactly, that you want?" interrogated Salem.  
"What I want is a partnership between your forces and my own." said the Mysterious Stranger.  
"How can you expect to come in here like this and forge a 'partnership'? I haven't even heard of your forces. How can I trust you enough with just your words?" she asked.  
"It's only natural that you haven't heard of them. They're not from this world. I come from Lore. It's vastly different than Remnant." they answered.  
"And you expect me to believe you?" challenged Salem.  
"Ruby Rose and a few other humans from Remnant are currently on Lore. They were transported through a portal, which I replicated in order to be able to go between our two worlds. After some investigating, I found out about you and as a result I came here myself in order to ally with you. Naturally, I don't expect you to believe me just like that, so I'll provide you with a glimpse to Lore." declared the Mysterious Stranger. Those words intrigued Salem, while Cider was confused by them.  
"If you are that sure of yourself, then show me. I can see through any illusion that you throw at me." said Salem.  
With that prompt, the Mysterious Stranger lifted one hand up. A shadow came out of it and formed itself into a portal in front of Salem. What she saw through it was a world, vastly different from Remnant. A world which was not ravaged by Grimm. A world filled with many kinds of people and monsters. A world which she couldn't recognize.  
"That should be enough to convince you, no?" they asked.  
"This does seem intriguing. What does this 'partnership' of yours entail?" she inquired.  
"For now, a simple trade of information between the two of us would be enough. I might be able to learn everything, but the easiest way would be through you. I also have a feeling that you'd like to learn more about Lore yourself." they stated.  
"So, a trade of information, is it? What about the 'for now' part? What is it that you have planned?" demanded Salem.  
"Do not worry. All will be revealed in time. I'll simply need your forces to assist me one day, among other things." they asserted.  
"Is that all?" she asked.  
"One last thing," they answered "I would like to offer a Doom Weapon as a gift in order to assert my intentions."  
"A Doom Weapon?" inquired Salem, intrigued. The Mysterious Stranger went on to explain what the nature of a Doom Weapon was. About how they're created by darkness elementals who bind themselves to any kinds of weapons. About how turning a light weapon of any kind into a Doom Weapon was the most efficient and powerful way for a darkness elemental. Salem kept getting more and more interested in these unusual weapons which the Mysterious Stranger was telling her about. After finishing their explanation, they placed a Doom Weapon on the table. It was the ShadowReaper of Doom, a doom replica of Artix' weapon, the Blinding Light of Destiny. Salem could feel the darkness oozing out of the axe.  
"I accept bot your gift and your proposal." said Salem.  
"I look forward to working with you in the future." answered the Mysterious Stranger. With those final words, he disappeared into the shadows, leaving Salem and Cinder alone in the conference room.

* * *

"Why?" asked Cinder "Why did you accept his proposal? He's obviously not trustworthy."  
"I didn't have a choice." answered Salem. Those words left Cinder completely stumped.  
"How? How is it possible for you not to have a choice? You're the one who leaves those with whom you usually negotiate with no other choice than to join you. How is it possible for that 'Mysterious Stranger' to leave you without a choice?" demanded Cinder.  
"I'm glad that you think so highly of me, but they were different. I felt a kind of 'aura' filled with darkness and malice coming from the Mysterious Stranger. All of the Grimm in the castle's vicinity were drawn here. Something's telling me that it would be in my best interest not to go against him." said Salem. Cinder decided not to pry any further because she noticed Salem's expression. It was filled with emotions which Cinder had never seen before. She wondered about how terrifying the Mysterious Stranger must be.

Meanwhile, somewhere within the shadows of Lore. The Mysterious Stranger had just returned from their negotiation with Salem. Upon returning, there was only one word which escaped them.

" **Perfect."**

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you very much for reading yet another chapter! Happy New Year 2018 to anyone reading this around the time it's published and to anyone who's reading from the future, I hope you've had a great day! Chapter 6 will be coming out not too long from now. I'll be publishing that one on the 2nd of January.**


	6. Flower Power

**A/N: Looking up the way certain names are written can get tiring.**

 **Disclaimer: DragonFable and RWBY are owned by Artix Entertainment and Rooster Teeth respectively. I do not own any of the characters/settings presented here.**

* * *

 **Flower Power**

"He's right there; at the door!" exclaimed Eydis as she was trying to remember the places Galanoth usually likes to visit. Nora turned around and looked towards the door. There, she saw a man clad in armour top to bottom. He also wore a helm which had a weird shape and on his back there was a red, slightly tattered cape. Other than that, there wasn't really anything else which was noteworthy. The man walked over to where Eydis and Nora were.  
"Hi, Galanoth," said Eydis "I was just thinking about where you could be."  
"Why?" asked Galanoth. Eydis proceeded to answer Galanoth's inquiry by explaining Nora's situation to him.  
"I see," he said "so you're a traveller who's lost her way, her friends and doesn't have any Gold because the currency where you come from is called 'Lien'?"  
"That's pretty much it." answered Nora.  
"I haven't heard of any foreigners going around here lately, so I can't help you with that. If you want to find your friends, usually the best place to start would be Falconreach." said Galanoth.  
"Okay, how am I supposed to get there?" asked Nora.  
"Sadly, you can't at the moment. There aren't any Gryphons to fly you there at the moment." answered Galanoth.  
"Wait, 'Gryphons'? What are those?" inquired Nora.  
"You don't know? Are there no Gryphons where you come from?" answered Galanoth by questioning Nora's reaction.  
"I guess not." she said "Why are there none available at the moment, then?"  
"A number of Gryphons were necessary to fly some of the new adventurers who wanted to leave Dragesvard and explore the world for themselves. The rest of them were sent to Swordhaven for extra supplies, as we are currently running low on them due to some of the monsters' more recent attacks." explained Galanoth. _Adventurers? Monsters? Is that how the people from Greenguard call Hunters and Grimm? It sounds really cool and fantasy-like!_ Those were Nora's thoughts before she realized something crucial.  
"WAIT!" shouted Nora out "Where am I going to stay, then!? This place is literally surrounded by ice and I don't have any money because none of you know how much Gold Lien is since neither one of you has even heard of it. I don't even know how much it is! How am I supposed to rent a room without even knowing how much money I have! If I even have any!"  
"How about I pay your stay here." suggested Galanoth. Hearing that, Nora stopped breaking down completely and looked towards him.  
"Really? You'll pay for my room?" she asked, before continuing "Wait a minute, are you planing on something? Why are you offering to pay for my room?"  
"You don't have to worry about anything like that." responded Galanoth "I'll just have you help me on my hunting, that's all."  
"Wait, you'll pay for my room and all you ask for is to help you on your hunts? That's great!" exclaimed Nora.  
"That hammer of yours does seem like it would be very useful in a fight. Tell you what, if you want, I can teach you the ropes of dragon slaying while we wait for a Gryphon to return." he suggested.  
"Dragon slaying? I'm not sure what kind of combat style that is, but count me in!" she asserted.  
"Well, if there are no other problems, would you like me to show you to your room?" asked Eydis.  
"That would be nice. I've been needing a good rest on a comfy bed for a while!" proclaimed Nora.  
"Then I'll meet you here tomorrow morning for our first hunt." said Galanoth.  
"You got it!" said Nora as she was climbing the stairs towards her room at the Inn. She also wondered where Ren was and if things were going as smoothly for him.

* * *

Ren is locked in battle. This time his opponent was neither a money nor a little strange green man. This time he was definitely fighting a human. Ren's opponent was dressed in a beige shirt and black pants. His arms and legs were also covered in something which was pitch-black. He was also wearing golden shoulder pads and helm, under which his face wasn't visible. The man also wore a red scarf which was golden at the tip. The man's appearance had taken Ren for a surprise the first time ha had jumped from the shadows to attack him which resulted in Ren's leg getting slightly cut.  
"Let me repeat myself, no Ninja from outside our clan will ever get our secrets!" shouted out the man after returning to the shadows.  
"What are you talking about?" asked Ren as he was readying himself for the next attack. This time, the man tried to attack Ren from above, but to no avail. Ren stepped back and tried shooting at his opponent with StormFlower. He was able to graze the man's upper arm. Before Ren had the chance to shoot again, the man retreated into the shadows again.  
"Why are you attacking me?" asked Ren.  
"You've entered the village without permission! That would mean that you're either a Pirate or a Ninja. Judging from your peculiar fighting style, I'd say that you're no pirate. That leaves me with one conclusion: you are a Ninja. And that means that you're here to steal our village's secrets." explained the man. Before Ren had the chance to object, he was once again attacked. This time it was from the side. Ren could barely block the attack, but before he could counter attack, the man had once again disappeared.  
"I'm not here for your secrets! Until now, I didn't even know that Ninjas actually existed! I've always thought that they were fictional! The only reason I'm here is because I'm lost and searching for my friends!" shouted Ren out, hoping that the man would hear him. The only response he got was yet another knife being thrown at him. Ren barely had the time to dodge, so he focused his Aura around the point where the knife would have pierced him. After a few moments the man walked out of the shadows and stood in front of Ren.  
"I see." he said "If you were truly a Ninja, you'd have been able to dodge that one easily. On the other hand, no Pirate can form such a barrier. You really are neither a Pirate nor a Ninja. It seems like I won't be needing to kill you."

Ren breathed out a sigh of relief. He was reaching his limits. If the fight had continued any longer, Ren would've most definitely been overwhelmed.  
"My name is Thyton. I'm the head of the Shadow of the Wind village." introduced himself the man.  
"I'm Lie Ren, but you can just call me Ren." he said.  
"Ren, you had mentioned something about being lost earlier. Could you tell me more about it?" asked Thyton. Ren proceeded to explain all that had happened to him. From the moment the tear appeared until his battle with Thyton. Once Ren was done with telling his story, he glanced over to Thyton to see him scratching his helm.  
"Hmm, I have no idea how to help you. I'm no expert on portals, so I can't tell you for sure whether your friends are around here or not. My best guess is to start from Falconreach. That's usually where you'd have the best chances to track down your friends." said Thyton.  
"I see. How can I get there the fastest, then?" asked Ren.  
"Since you're not a Ninja, your best bet would be to head over to Osprey Cove and board a ship that's headed to the mainland. Sadly for you, that's impossible at the moment." answered Thyton.  
"Why?" asked Ren.  
"Because the current relationship between us Ninjas and the Pirates is at its lowest. As it stands, the chances of a war breaking out between us is greater than it has ever been before. The Monkees and Sneenjas you saw on your way here were sent from both sides as warning." explained Thyton. Following that, the two were beset by a few moments of silence. Ren was shocked at the prospect of finding himself in the middle of a war. Even if he wasn't directly involved, he still felt that way. That was because even he hadn't fully recovered from the Fall of Beacon.  
"How about you help us with this war?" suggested Thyton. Ren froze for a second. He was unsure as to how to answer Thyton. Was he ready to fight in yet another war? Would it end just like the Fall of Beacon? Considering Thyton's abilities, did he even have a chance at fighting the Pirates? Seeing that doubt, Thyton decided to speak up.  
"If you're unsure of your abilities, I can train you!" he suggested. Ren looked at him and realized, that his doubts were showing.  
"What about your village's secrets? Didn't you tell me that you wouldn't ever give them up?" Ren asked.  
"That's true, but only for those who haven't joined the clan. And, if you're still unsure, how about I get something in return. For example, you can show me your own fighting style. You did have some interesting moves back there, even if you were on the defence." proclaimed Thyton. After mulling over it for a few seconds Ren finally came to an answer.  
"I accept." said Ren. With that, his training as a Ninja for the war between Pirates and Ninjas began. During all of it, Ren thought about what Nora might be up to and whether things were going better for her.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you very much for reading! So, with chapter 6 done, I'm finally done with the initial "setup" chapters. What that means, is that I can finally start focusing on more specific groups of characters and actually get the story going. Stay tuned for chapter 7 sometime this weekend. Or maybe Friday. Depends.**


	7. Fire

**A/N: So, last chapter I made a slight mistake. The mistake was, the part where Nora didn't know what a Gryphon was. As it was pointed out by zen's review, Gryphons are present in RWBY as Grimm (interestingly, their names are written as Griffon). In future I will look up if the monster in question has a matching Grimm, but as far as this case goes, let's just say that in the Remnant of this FanFic, Griffons don't exist. With that said, I'm proud to say that, with the end of the introductory chapters, this one marks the beginning of the first proper arc in this FanFic.**

 **Disclaimer: DragonFable and RWBY are owned by Artix Entertainment and Rooster Teeth respectively. I do not own any of the characters/settings presented here.**

* * *

 **Fire**

"I understand," said Raven, after being brought up to speed with Jaune's situation "I can help you with finding your friends and a way home."  
"That would be appreciated." says Jaune. Earlier, he seemed distressed but now his face had regained composure.  
"I think that our best bet right now is to seek help from Warlic. He should be able to figure out a way home and he might even have a spell that can help you find your friends easily." suggested Raven.  
"I see, but what if he doesn't?" asked Jaune.  
"Then you'll just have to seek help from the adventurers in Falconreach." answered Celestia.  
"Well, if there's nothing else that you'd like to ask about, let's get going!" proclaimed Raven.  
"Actually," said Jaune "there's one thing I'd like to ask about."  
"And that would be..." questioned Raven.  
"Why are you wearing a pumpkin on your head?" asked Jaune. Earlier, during introductions, Jaune had decided not to ask about it. Raven noticed that, but hadn't said anything. Another thing that he had noticed while introducing himself was that Jaune had reacted to Raven's name. While finding that a little bit weird, he himself had decided not to pry further.  
"I feel better wearing this Jack 'o helm." answered Raven "It feels comfortable and I don't really like to show my face."  
"I see..." said Jaune. He decided that it would be better not to pry any further. Raven, having noticed that, decided that it's time to go.  
"Let's go, shall we?" he asked. Jaune nodded and they both headed out after telling their goodbyes to Celestia.  
"So, how exactly are we supposed to get to Warlic?" asked Jaune. Raven simply pointed forward. Jaune looked in that direction and saw something that was made of stone.  
"We're going through that portal" said Raven.  
"What? That's a portal?" exclaimed Jaune.  
"Yes," answered Raven "it is one, and we'll use it to get to Warlic."  
"How?" asked Jaune. Raven didn't answer his question. Instead, he moved towards it and placed one hand on the portal's side and closed his eyes. Following that, his hand lit up. Jaune couldn't believe what he was seeing. In mere moments, the portal was glowing blue inside. Raven removed his hand and looked towards Jaune.  
"Now we can go in and reach the portal near Warlic's tent." asserted Raven. Jaune was speechless as he watched Raven enter the portal. Naturally, he followed him through. The next thing he knew, he was on the other side. The scenery was different. Now he was surrounded by a forest with a single road going through it.

* * *

"Wow!" exclaimed Jaune, after coming through the portal "This is unbelievable and it's much more convenient than the way we travel back on Remnant!"  
"You remind me of the first time I went through a portal. It was the most magical experience for me at the time." said Raven. He then looked towards Warlic's tent and exclaimed: "We're here!"  
"Already?" asked Jaune as he looked towards the tent. The two noticed that Warlic was already outside.  
"Hi, Warlic!" yelled Raven out as they were approaching him. Hearing that, Warlic turned towards them and greeted them.  
"Hello," Warlic said "it is nice to see you again. I see that you have a new, peculiar, friend."  
"My name is Jaune." he introduced himself.  
"I see." said Warlic "And, forgive me if I'm wrong, but are you possibly from Remnant?"  
Warlic's words immediately stumped the two. Seeing that, Warlic told them that he had already met someone from Remnant and that he'd sent him on a small quest.  
"Wait, who did you meet? Was it Ruby, Ren or Nora?" asked Jaune.  
"No," answered Warlic "I haven't met any one of the three you've just named. He said his name was Qrow."  
"Qrow? But how?" asked Jaune. Warlic, rather than answering, looked to the side. Both Raven and Jaune turned their heads in the same direction as Warlic. What they saw was a crow, flying towards them. What happened next surprised them. The crow turned into a man and walked towards them.  
"Why did that crow turn into Qrow? What is going on here?" asked Jaune, visibly confused at everything that's happening.  
"A pun." answered Raven. Jaune slapped his forehead and groaned.  
"I see that you're safe. What about the others? Do you have an idea where they could be?" asked Qrow.  
"I don't know. We came here to ask him." answered Jaune, as he pointed to Warlic "Why are you here? Were you actually following us the whole way or what?"  
"So, would you like to introduce me to your friend there?" asked Qrow, obviously trying to steer the conversation in a different direction. Before Jaune had a chance to say anything else, he was interrupted.  
"Hi, I'm Raven. It's nice to meet you." introduced himself Raven. After introducing himself, Raven barely noticed Qrow's reaction to hearing his name. It was the second time that that had happened, but he decided to, once again, let it go. Jaune, once again, started questioning why Qrow was there.  
"Okay, okay, I'll explain. Yes, I did follow you all. I did it because the path to Haven Academy is way too dangerous." explained Qrow "Now that that's done, I have a report to give to Warlic."  
"Ah, yes. What did you find?" asked Warlic. Before Qrow had a chance to give his report, both Raven and Jaune asked about what the quest was. Warlic told them that recently the town of Lymcrest to the south-west has been having trouble with the local elementals. To top it off, the river which runs beside the town had been turned to lava. He added that Qrow's job was to investigate the river and see if he could find clues as to what's happening and who's behind it all. After being done with his explanation, Warlic asked if there are any more questions. Both Raven and Jaune shook their heads. Warlic then nodded towards Qrow. Following that, Qrow gave his report.

* * *

 _On my way to the river itself, I did see many elementals, which were fighting amongst each other. As I was getting closer, I noticed that there were more and more fire elementals than any of the other ones. Once I reached the river, I was glad that I was a crow, because there were many fire elementals among other fiery beasts in the area. I kept flying past everything while going upstream. But, as I was approaching the source, I saw a figure start emerging. I hid among the few remaining trees and tried to get as close as I could. I was quickly noticed. The man threw a ball of fire at me to get me to come out. He was quite successful. His appearance was, interesting. His entire body was on fire, but he was somehow able to wear his red clothes. As I confronted him, he introduced himself as Xan. He then summoned a monster, which he called a Bassault and then teleported away while laughing maniacally. As I had no other option, I fought I._

Qrow had no other choice than to fight the Bassault. As he was cursing his own luck, he took out his weapon and switched to a battle stance. Bassault fired off lava towards Qrow. He quickly dodged backwards, following that up with a dash to the side. He then jumped above and landed behind it. Before Bassault had a chance to react, Qrow swiftly slashed at its back multiple times. He then dashed to the side, turned his weapon into a shotgun and shot at Bassault's arm. Seeing as that had no effect, he quickly turned it back to a sword. As he was doing that, Bassault dashed towards him. Having taken him by surprise, Qrow was headbutted. As a result, he was launched into the nearest tree. Qrow barely got up and started running around Bassault, trying not to give it a chance to attack. As he was wondering about his next move, Bassault tripped and fell to the ground. Qrow immediately took the chance, and cut its arm off. He then jumped backwards, because Bassault had launched lave towards him from that arm. Qrow then turned his weapon into a scythe and dashed straight to Bassault, assaulting it with a flurry of slashes to the front until he managed to cut the rest of its limbs alongside its head. As he was done, he noticed that its body had started shaking viciously. Qrow immediately jumped back and shielded himself with his weapon, which he had turned back to a sword. Bassault's body exploded, throwing Qrow backwards.

 _After defeating Bassault, I was left quite injured. I took some rest at a tree's base. Afterwards I turned to a crow and flew back here._

* * *

Once Qrow was finished with his report, the other three looked among each other. Jaune's face had been showing slight sings of him being terrified. Most likely at the idea of monsters made of fire and lava. Raven's face hadn't changed a bit. He was already used to fighting such monsters on a daily basis. Warlic's face was buried deep in thought.  
"So, Xan's the one behind the recent imbalance of elements and the river being turned to lava." said Warlic "I do have an idea about how I could turn the river back to normal, but I'll require your help. But, helping me means that you'd all become Xan's targets. You see, Xan has this deep hatred of me. I don't feel like sharing the details, but know, Xan will attack anyone who works with me. Knowing that, would you three still help me?"  
"Our deal was that you'd help me after I help you, and I mean to uphold my side of it." answered Qrow.  
"I'm already one of Xan's enemies and I've been meaning to pay him back for when he had burned Falconreach down." said Raven.  
"You're supposed to be able to help us, so I'll help out too." said Jaune.  
"I see, then let's begin our preparations at once." proclaimed Warlic.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you for reading yet another chapter! The next one will come out most-likely sometime during the second half of January.**


	8. The River's Source

**A/N: So, this chapter is about half a month late.**

 **Disclaimer: DragonFable and RWBY are owned by Artix Entertainment and Rooster Teeth respectively. I do not own any of the characters/settings presented here.**

* * *

 **The River's Source**

"First and foremost, we should turn the river back to normal." said Warlic.  
"And how are we supposed to do that?" asked Jaune.  
"I'm not sure. I have a few ideas, but I need to examine a sample from the river's source. That's why I'll have the three of you go and fetch it from the fire cave in the elemental mountains." answered Warlic.  
"Right!" nodded Raven, ready to go.  
"Wait a second!" intercepted Qrow "Is there anything you can tell us about the cave? We can't just go in with little to no information."  
"I understand. The cave is at the foot of a volcano, which means it's filled with quite a bit of lava. Partway through, there's a bridge. Considering that Xan must've messed with the source, I have no doubt that he has made sure to leave enough of his minions to stop you from getting anywhere. Speaking of which, the source itself is in the deepest part of the cave. That's all I can tell you about it." said Warlic.  
"So, there's lava? I guess that means, that It'd be best for me to stay back." declared Qrow.  
"And why would you do that!?" demanded Jaune.  
"I'd like to know your reasons, too." added Raven.  
"It's because of my Semblance." responded Qrow.  
"Your Semblance?" asked Raven.  
"I guess you wouldn't know what that is. It's basically a special power that anyone on Remnant can have. It's different from person to person. My Semblance is misfortune. I bring bad luck anywhere I go." explained Qrow.  
"I see." said Raven "How bad is this 'bad luck' of yours?"  
"Warlic, you said that the cave is at the base of a volcano, right?" asked Qrow.  
"Yes." answered Warlic.  
"What're the chances for it to erupt anytime soon?" inquired Qrow.  
"I don't think something like that would happen anytime soon. Unless, of course, there are outside influences. Like Xan, for example." responded Warlic.  
"My Semblance can be counted as yet another outside influence. The moment I get too close to it, it will erupt." asserted Qrow. His words left the others speechless.  
"So it's that bad." murmured Raven.  
"It does have it's ups, though. It can be quite an advantage in battle, since it affects anyone without discriminating." added Qrow.  
"What about you? What is your Semblance, Jaune?" asked Raven. Jaune just looked to the ground and clenched his fist.  
"I haven't unlocked it, yet." uttered Jaune.  
"Oh." paused Raven for a second. An awkward silence fell over them. Raven didn't have an idea how to break the silence.  
"Okay. Raven, Jaune, I feel like it's about time for the both of you to go to the fire cave and retrieve the sample. While you're both away, I'll start preparations to analyse it as soon as you come back" announced Warlic.  
"Ah, yeah, we're on it!" snapped Jaune back.  
"Off we go!" said Raven. With that, Raven and Jaune took off towards the cave while Warlic began his own preparations.

* * *

Not too long after, the two reached the cave's entrance. Just before they entered the cave, Raven took out his Wavecrest.  
"That sword. It's different from the ones I've seen in the past!" exclaimed Jaune.  
"You like it? I forged it myself from the scales of a Hydra. It's also infused with water magic, so it should be useful against the fire monsters we'll be fighting in the cave." explained Raven.  
"It looks cool! What else can it do? Is it also a gun?" asked Jaune.  
"A sword that's also a gun!? Ridiculous! There's no way something like that exists!" said Raven.  
"Wait, so magic is real, but a sword, that's also a gun isn't? Back on Remnant almost every weapon can be used in more ways than one." declared Jaune.  
"Is it the same with your sword? Earlier when I checked it out, I saw no signs that told me your sword was also a gun." questioned Raven.  
"That's because my sword is a normal one. My shield on the other hand can get smaller, so it's easy to carry around. Recently I had it upgraded to the point where I can combine them into a broadsword." replied Jaune.  
"Interesting. Now I'd like to see it in battle, so let's stop talking and instead let us enter the cave." proclaimed Raven. Jaune nodded.

And so, the two entered the cave. As soon as they did, they were ambushed by a Lava Glob and a Flamewing. Jaune was slightly startled by the two monsters, while Raven didn't waste any time slashing both of them in two.  
"What the heck was that?" yelled Jaune.  
"A Flamewing and a Lava Glob." answered Raven, calmly.  
"Are flaming bats and blobs of lava common here?" asked Jaune.  
"Depends on where you are, but yes. You'd better get used to the notion of fighting against monsters you're not used to seeing, Jaune." explained Raven.  
"Raven, why is that flame moving towards us?" asked Jaune, voice quivering.  
"That's because it's an Inferno Elemental." replied Raven, once again with a calm voice.  
Raven raised his sword, concentrating his power into it. It started glowing. A second later he dashed towards the Inferno Elemental and slashed at it, cutting its hands off. He then slashed again, defeating it.  
"Jaune, stay sharp. I need you to focus on the battle, rather than the fact that these monsters are new to you!" yelled Raven.  
"Right, gotcha! I was only slightly startled, anyway." said Jaune.  
The two continued further into the cave. They fought wave after wave of Flamewings, Lava Globs and Inferno Elementals. Raven Slashed them all, one after the other. On the other hand, Jaune had quite a bit of trouble fighting them off, as his Crocea Mors wasn't the most efficient at taking down fire monsters. He had even more trouble with the Inferno Elementals, as they were made of pure fire. Eventually, they reached a health pad.  
"Finally! We can take a moment to rest." declared Raven, immediately going over to the pad.  
"What's that you're standing on?" asked Jaune.  
"It's a health pad." answered Raven "Don't you have these back on Remnant?"  
"No." replied Jaune.  
"What a shame. These are really convenient. You just have to stand on them and they regenerate you. There are three kinds. The ones that restore your heals. Ones that restore mana. And ones that do both. You'll usually find these in caves and dungeons around the world. There was also one beside Warlic's tent." explained Raven.  
"That's convenient. Who's going around, placing them in caves and dungeons, though?" inquired Jaune.  
"I'm not sure. Nobody really knows. It's one of Lore's greatest mysteries." answered Raven.  
"What!?" exclaimed Jaune, but after some deliberating, he decided that he'd rather not question it any further.  
After resting for a while, the two ventured further into the cave. Soon enough, they reached a fork in the road. To their right they saw the bridge, which Warlic had mentioned earlier. Unsurprisingly, it was raised and they couldn't keep going. The two decided to take the other path in order to search for the switch. A few minutes later they found it, but it was being guarded by a Bassault. Suddenly, Raven launched an attack. He ran towards it and, without hesitation, slashed at its chest. The Bassault raised its arms to attack back. Due to its slowness, Raven had the time to notice it and dodge by jumping backwards. He immediately followed that by charging his weapon with his mana and launching a double attack, string Bassault's chest twice. Right after that, he charged his Wavecrest once more and launched a triple attack. This time his targets were Bassault's shoulders and head. As Raven was relentlessly attacking, he failed to notice that Bassault had prepared to strike back. Jaune tried to warn him, but it was too late. Bassault threw Raven back by shooting him with lava through its hands.  
"Raven! Why did you just go in like that!?" demanded Jaune.  
"That monster there. It's a Bassault. One of Xan's own minions. I just can't stand looking at one of them. They remind me of Xan himself." explained Raven.  
"That's not an excuse to just jump in like that! You could've been killed!" lashed Jaune out.  
"It would take a lot more than just one of them to take me out." said Raven. Just then, Bassault shot out another round of lava from its hands. Raven was barely able to sidestep it.  
"Follow me. I have an idea." declared Jaune. Raven nodded.  
Jaune then told Raven to distract the Bassault and pull it to the wall. Following that, Raven dashed towards it once more. This time he pulled a knife from his backpack and threw it at the Bassault. It then roared and ran towards Raven. Once it neared the wall, Jaune ran towards it. He pulled out his Crocea Mors in its broadsword form and slashed with its full power at Bassault's back. He then ran in the opposite direction, to the other wall as Bassault turned around to run towards him. As Jaune stared it down, he nodded toward Raven. Knowing what he had to do, Raven raised his sword and charged it with more mana than usual. He then ran to Bassault, jumped and brought his sword down, slashing it in two.  
"Final Blow!" yelled Raven as he was slashing Bassault in two. Bassault was defeated. Raven pulled the lever to bring the bridge down and the two headed further into the cave.  
"Good job with that strategy, by the way." complimented Raven.  
"Oh, that was nothing, trust me." replied Jaune.  
They kept fighting against more Flamewings, Lava Globs and Inferno Elementals as they went further into the cave. Eventually, they reached the deepest point, where the river's source was.  
"We're finally here!" exclaimed Jaune.  
"All that's left is to take a sample and bring it back to Warlic." said Raven, as he took a scooped up the lava-river's "water" using a vile which Warlic had provided.  
"Let's head back." proclaimed Raven.

* * *

Ruby opened her eyes. She rose from her bed and looked around. She noticed, that she was in an unfamiliar room. Her body felt sore. The door opened and a man came through it. He was clad in silver armour, which was gold-trimmed. He had brown eyes and short hair of the same colour.  
"I see that you've woken up." he said "My name is Artix."  
"What happened? How did I get here?" asked Ruby.  
"I found you just outside Amityvale. You lying on the ground, surrounded by skeletons." answered Artix "How did you end up like that?"  
Ruby told Artix about the weird tear and about what happened to her in the forest.  
"From what I understand; you were travelling with your friends when a weird tear-shaped thing showed up, you lost consciousness and then found yourself in the forest. After that, you fought your way through it until you found Amityvale, but you were ambushed just outside of town. Did I get all of it?" asked Artix.  
"Yep, that's pretty much the gist of it." replied Ruby.  
"You don't have to worry anymore. You've been healed and you should be able to move properly sometime soon." reassured Artix.  
"Artix, have you seen anyone else appear like me? Maybe a girl with orange hair, about as tall as me, really cheerful and energetic? Or a boy with blonde hair, wearing a white chest-plate? Or a boy with black hair, a green and white outfit and he doesn't speak a lot?" asked Ruby.  
"No, I haven't seen anyone around who looks like that." answered Artix "But I do know of a place you could start searching for them."  
"Really? Where?" exclaimed Ruby.  
"Hunter's Paradise. That's your best bet." said Artix.  
"And where is Hunter's Paradise?" asked Ruby.  
"It's outside of Amityvale. To the east. You'll have to get there on foot through the forest." explained Artix.  
"It's not in the town? Can you guide me there, then?" asked Ruby.  
"Yeah, why not. We leave as soon as you've recovered enough." replied Artix.

* * *

 **A/N: Starting this chapter, I won't be setting deadlines for following chapters anymore.**


	9. Hunter's Paradise

**Disclaimer: DragonFable and RWBY are owned by Artix Entertainment and Rooster Teeth respectively. I do not own any of the characters/settings presented here.**

* * *

 **Hunter's Paradise**

"I have examined the sample" said Warlic as he came out of his tent.  
"Already? Well, what did you learn?" asked Jaune as he, Raven and Qrow gathered around Warlic.  
"It seems like Xan has changed the water's nature straight from the river's source. There's no way to turn it back using normal water. I'll need water from a pure elemental spring." explained Warlic.  
"So, if we get you some pure elemental water, you can change the river back to normal with it?" asked Raven.  
"Indeed. If I infuse it with a certain spell and then pour the water into the river, it should start changing it back to normal." answered Warlic.  
"Okay, then point us to the spring and let's get going!" exclaimed Jaune.  
"Not so fast." interrupted Warlic "It's not that easy to get to the spring. The mountain pass that you need to go through is guarded by a Wind Cyclops. I think it would be best if we let Qrow handle this one, as he can fly past all monsters and retrieve the pure elemental water."  
"Warlic, you know full-well that we can all deal with those monster no-problem" said Raven.  
"The problem isn't whether you can or can't deal with them. It's more about time. You see, to retrieve the water, I have to enchant a container for it. The enchantment will stay only for a limited time. While you can clear the path, come back, get the enchanted container and retrieve the water, it would be faster for Qrow to fly there himself." explained Warlic.  
"I understand." said Raven.  
"Qrow, the water needs to be from the purest part of the spring. In other words, the waterfall which feeds it. While you retrieve it, I'll prepare the spell to turn the river back to normal." said Warlic. He then enchanted a container and handed it to Qrow. After listening to Warlic's instructions about the location of the spring, Qrow took of towards it. Warlic on the other hand went into his tent to prepare the spell.

Qrow, as per Warlic's instructions flew up the side of the mountain.  
"That's quite the number of monsters on the path." murmured Qrow to himself as he arrived at the mountain pass. He saw the Wind Cyclops there, ready to stop anyone who dares walk on the path. Qrow flew around it, through the pass. On the other side he was met with a lake, surrounded by a forest. From his altitude he was able to easily spot the waterfall on the other side of the lake. He flew straight towards it, retrieved the pure elemental water and took off, back to Warlic's tent.

* * *

"Ruby, are you ready?" asked Artix.  
"Yeah! Let's get going! To Hunter's Paradise!" answered Ruby. The two went outside.  
"This town looks quite weird." commented Ruby as they were walking through Amityvale.  
"Really? I guess it would look weird to anyone who's not from here." said Artix. They eventually reached the gates and headed through the forest.  
"Artix, why didn't we head out during the day?" asked Ruby.  
"What do you mean? We did." answered Artix, puzzled.  
"What is that supposed to mean? It's dark all around us and the moon is out." she exclaimed.  
"But we're in Doomwood forest. Here, it's constantly night and the moon is always out. Outside the forest it's currently daytime." he explained.  
"No way there exists a place like that. Speaking of which, why does the moon look like that?" she asked.  
"That's how the moon's always looked like in Doomwood." he said. Artix and Ruby kept on arguing along their way. Ruby pointing out things she thought of as weird, while Artix was confused on how can that be until he realized something.  
"There's no way, but are you actually not from Lore!?" exclaimed Artix.  
"Lore?" asked Ruby.  
"Lore. You know. The name of this world." he said.  
"No, the name of the world is Remnant." she said.  
"That's the name of your world. The name of this one is Lore. You know, you being from a different world would explain your story. That tear-shaped thing you told me about must've been a portal." said Artix.  
"No way! That doesn't make any sense! Who opened the portal, then? And why?" yelled out Ruby.  
"I don't know. Some magic user for some reason is my best guess." he said.  
"Now you tell me that magic exists?" she asked, sarcastically.  
"Of course it does. How do you think plot holes are explained?" he answered.  
"What are you talking… whatever. How do you expect me to believe something like that?" exclaimed Ruby. Before Artix had a chance to say anything, five skeleton emerged from the bushes and attacked them. Ruby quickly took out two of them with her Crescent Rose. Artix swiftly defeated the other three with a spear of light. He then pointed at the skeletons' remains.  
"Do the undead exist in your world, too? If so, where do they come from?" asked Artix.  
"N-no, I hadn't even heard of monsters like these in the past." answered Ruby.  
"My point exactly." he said.  
"Then, if we're really in a whole new world, I need to get to my friends faster than before. Who know what kinds of dangers are there in this world." she said, full of conviction.  
"Well, if you're that determined, let's go!" proclaimed Artix.  
"Yeah!" exclaimed Ruby. Not too long after, they arrived at Hunter's Paradise.


End file.
